D-St At Fresh High: Sensex Rises 700 Points, Nifty Above 25,500 For The First Time

The benchmark indices BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 climbed to fresh all-time highs at opening bell, following gains in Asia-Pacific markets and Wall Street futures, after Jerome Powell-led US Federal Reserve announced a 50bps rate cut on Wednesday evening.

At the opening bell, the BSE Sensex was at 83,389, up 441 points, or 0.53 per cent, while the Nifty 50 was at 25,542, up 165 points, or 0.65 per cent higher.

All the constituent stocks of the BSE Sensex, and most of the stocks on the Nifty 50 were also trading higher. Gains on both the benchmark indices were led by NTPC, IT and financial stocks

Across sectors, the IT index had climbed 1.55 per cent, followed by the Realty index (1.10 per cent). All other sectoral indices were also in the green.

In the broader markets too, the BSE MidCap was up 0.59 per cent, while the BSE SmallCap was up 0.43 per cent.

Global Cues

Markets in the Asia-Pacific region were being led higher by Japan’s Nikkei 225, with Nikkei and Topix up about 2 per cent each.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures pointed to a flat open for HSI, as they would return to trade after being closed for a public holiday on Wednesday.

The Taiwan Weighted Index was up 0.12 per cent, and South Korea’s blue-chip Kospi slipped 0.51 per cent after opening higher. The small-cap Kosdaq was up 0.25 per cent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.15 per cent on open.

Futures of mainland China’s CSI 300 stood at 3,191 slightly lower than its Tuesday close at 3,195.76.

Major stock indices had closed with modest losses and the dollar gained ground in choppy trading on Wednesday after the US Federal Reserve opted for a supersized cut in its first move to borrowing costs in more than four years.

The central bank cut its overnight rate by half a percentage point, more than the quarter-point that is customary for adjustments, citing greater confidence that inflation will keep receding to its 2 per cent annual target.

The benchmark S&P 500 rose as much as 1 per cent after the announcement before retreating to close down 0.29 per cent at 5,618.26.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.25 per cent, at 41,503.10, and the Nasdaq Composite shed 0.31 per cent, to end at 17,573.30.